While sitting in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis brings about pain, it also brings opportunities we didn’t even know were possible. Opportunities like getting to spend more time with your family, evaluate what’s most important for you, and even invest in learning a new skill. There’s no doubt that we will look back at this time and remember hardship, but my hope is that we will also see resilience, innovation, and creativity. This hope doesn’t come without proof that it’s possible. Here are 7 startups founded in the last recession (2008-2010)

The following information is from Fox Business + Business Insider

Uber – 2009

Businessmen Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp founded Uber in 2009 after they couldn’t find a taxi ride on a cold night in Paris.

The rideshare giant has since expanded internationally across various platforms, including food delivery service, bike and scooter share service and temporary work staffing service.

Uber is now valued at $47 billion!

Venmo – 2009

College friends Iqram Magdon-Ismail and Andrew Kortina launched digital payment app Venmo in 2009 as a way for peers to exchange cash digitally and without lofty transfer fees.

I’d like to point out that a company started by two college kids later sold for $26 million in 2012. You’re never too young (or old) to start.

Instagram – 2010

Engineers Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger created Instagram in 2010 as a visuals-focused form of social media that is centered around images and videos.

Two years later they sold the company to Facebook for $1 billion (with a B!).

Pinterest – 2010

Entrepreneurs Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra came together in 2010 to create Pinterest, a website and app that resembles a digital scrapbook.

The company is now valued at $8.6 billion has more than 300 million users on the platform.

Slack – 2009

Photo website Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield created Slack, a work messaging app, in 2009.

Slack is now valued at $15.9 billion.

Square – 2009

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and businessman Jim McKelvey started Square, a merchant services and mobile payment service, in 2009.

The platform is used by more than 30 million companies to complete financial transactions.

Square is currently valued at more than $23 billion.

Airbnb – 2008

What started out as a group of friends’ idea to rent out an air mattress turned into a $31 billion-dollar company.

I don’t know about you, but I personally use more than half of these on a daily basis. Don’t pass up on the opportunities for greatness hidden in heartbreak and uncertainty.

Want to know how you can stay the most productive while working from home? Read it here.